I logged into my MSN Hotmail account today and my inbox was empty! I had
lots of important emails there and nowhere else. What happened, and how do I go
about recovering the contents of my MSN Hotmail Inbox?

•

That's actually a synthesis of a question I get almost daily. People login
to their MSN Hotmail or Windows Live Hotmail account one day only to find that
all of their messages are gone. Poof.

I'll review what the possible causes are and also what (little) can be
done.

•

I'll start with my standard admonition: this scenario is exactly
why I so strongly recommend
against relying on any free email account as the only place to keep
anything you consider important. Things like this happen, apparently more
frequently than most people realize, and there's almost nothing that can be
done.

So with that out of the way, let's look at what might have happened.

You shared your password with someone you shouldn't have.
This is probably the most common scenario, particularly among younger users.
There should never be a reason to share your password with anyone
(save, perhaps, your parents if you're underage). Doing so is simply asking for
trouble. Yes, you may be friends today, but next week? Next month? Next year?
Who knows? And with your password they have the ability to cause all kinds of
damage.

You were hacked. This has all sorts of complicated
connotations, but in fact this kind of hacking is most commonly done simply by
guessing your password. We all want to choose a password that's easy to
remember, and I understand that, but if it's too easy to remember then
it's probably too easy to guess. And once someone guesses your password, all
bets are off. They can do whatever they want with your account including
deleting it, changing it, and sending nasty messages to all your friends and
contacts.

"If customer service does not respond to your request, I
know of no way to recover your inbox."

Temporary Server Problems. I would not have guessed this one
actually, but I keep hearing reports of it. The scenario looks like this: you
login, your inbox is empty. You login a few hours later, and everything is
back. That's clearly a problem at the mail provider's end. So be sure to try
again in "a while", whatever that might be. An hour might be expecting too
much, and after a few days you can probably be assured that this isn't the
problem.

You might not be looking at your inbox. Particularly with
Windows Live Hotmail's new interface, it's easy to overlook which mail folder
you might have selected. If you've accidentally clicked on a folder that has
nothing it, like "Drafts", it might appear that your inbox is empty. Before
panicking, click on the "Inbox" icon on the left to make sure you're looking
where you think you are. This also clears "full message view" which can obscure
the list of messages in your inbox.

You've selected a display filter. Next to the "Sort by"
item in the Windows Live Hotmail column header is a small icon that allows you
to "Show only messages..." that meet a criteria. For example you could elect to
show only messages that have an attachment. If there are none, then your inbox
will appear empty. Once again, clicking on the inbox icon to the left will
clear the filter and show you all messages in your inbox.

It just disappeared for reasons unknown. I hate to even
have to include this as a possibility, but as best I can tell it happens.
Recently it seemed to occur as accounts were switched from the old style MSN
Hotmail to the new Windows Live Hotmail, but that should be over by now.
Nonetheless, I've not been able to determine a common cause or reason. It just
happens.

•

So what can you do?

Sorry to say, pretty much nothing.

You can try to contact customer support. The quickest route I found was this
link: https://support.live.com/eform.aspx, and then click on Windows
Live Hotmail. You can then submit a support request.

If I sound skeptical, it's because I am. Certainly every request I've ever
made using this approach has been ignored. That's also what I hear from the
vast majority of readers who've attempted it as well. However, every
so often I do hear a success story, so it's certainly worth the attempt. Let's
face it, you have nothing to lose.

But in all likelihood, you've already lost everything.

If customer service does not respond to your request, I know of no way to
recover your inbox.

Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.

Not what you needed?

You may also be interested in:

Are free email
services worth it? Free email services and accounts are convenient and ubiquitous. But free email services aren't the right place to keep your important information.

Leo, you forgot to include that the Inbox becomes empty after one has not signed in for more than a certain period, i.e. one month etc, or did Hotmail stop doing this?

Ken Crook
December 22, 2007 10:11 PM

Hi Leo,

I use Yahoo email and keep a copy of all the newsletters I get in a separate folder. That way if something goes wrong, and I stop getting a newsletter, I have something to work from.

Is there any way to save these files offline so they can be restored if Yahoo somehow loses them?

Leo A. Notenboom
December 24, 2007 11:13 AM

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

The scenario I'm addressing above is really "one day you use it, and the next
day it's gone", but you do raise an important reminder: Hotmail (and other free
services) will discard your Inbox and possibly everything else if you fail to
login for a period of time. Typically it's a month, sometimes three, and I
believe GMail is 6 months.

Remeber that sometimes if someone is using OUTLOOK type web mail clients, they can be configured to downdload from your hotmail server or ISP server and then appear to have been "deleted".

sako
January 23, 2008 6:56 AM

Hello Leo,
I am having some issues with either msn messenger or hotmail. On msn messenger it keeps telling me that i have received an email from such and such. When i go to my inbox to view the email, its not there. On msn messenger it says i have 28 new emails, i go to hotmail to check them out it says i have no new email. At this point im worried that its some sort of virus and im not even clicking on the pop up that says you have received an email from John ..... what do you think it is?

Sasha
January 27, 2008 11:04 AM

Regarding the last comment posted by sako on Jan 23, 2008... I am having that exact problem. My msn messenger will pop up saying I just recieved an email (they even specify the person's name), but when I go to my inbox the emails are not there.......big mystery. Do you have any idea what this is?

Emma
January 28, 2008 1:10 PM

I know this is not exactly on topic but I have googled and this is as close as I have found to my problem!

I am having the exact same issue as the last two posters. All day today, messenger has told me new mail has arrived (up to 7 so far) but no emails are showing up. I have sent two test emails to myself from another account, those do show up.

There are zero emails in my junk folder. What is going on??

Justin
January 30, 2008 2:26 PM

I am also having the exact same problem as the previous 3 posters. Given that these are all recent, I'm wondering if MS is really having server issues.

Jon
January 30, 2008 6:59 PM

I too am having this same problem. It started about 2 weeks ago and my inbox is completely empty, yet MSN shows (7) new emails.
This is just not acceptable. I may me missing very important emails.

mary transue
March 31, 2008 1:10 PM

MSN Hotmail has lost all my contacts three times. Today was the last. I am done with them. G mail is much better but what can I do about the 200 e mail addresses I had in my CONTACT list. They are gone. Even the ones in a folder.

Ronald
April 30, 2008 8:47 AM

This just happened to me and its not the first time. I had alot of important emails I had saved and they are all gone, they were not deleted (not in the deleted or junk folders with other mail deleted days before) or any other folder, and I check my email at least once a day, they are just gone. This also happened to me about 1.5 years ago with Hotmail. I will be switching my main email address which is a shame but I have no other choice. The last time this happened I contaced hotmail support and it was a waste of time. I can't even bother to this time.

Leonardo
June 9, 2008 2:34 PM

Leo:
I have the second time of this semestral , my inbox empty in hotmail!, I am very hungry, because , hotmail dont have a system of backup directly to hard disc for example, i dont think thats its requiere to much programation, I lost my info-
and I cant do nothing more. Patience.

Thanks for try to help us.

Leo
June 10, 2008 9:24 AM

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

A) Don't rely on Hotmail - or any free service - as the sole
repository for anything important. That's something you'll
find I say over and over here on the site. You've just
provided another example of why I keep saying that.

Hello Leo:
I did read all of the above comments, and, it appears that this may be a lost cause.... My problem is that two pages of my most recent inbox disappered for "reasons unknown". Of course, I need to get them back. Briefly, when I was trying to go from inbox to messages sent via the go to box, a rectangular box appeared asking to mark or check something first. I tried to do so, and even put the check mark in the corresponding boxes of the inbox page. Finally, the two most recent pgs. ended up disppearing. Is there a way to recover them? Thanks Leo for your time and (hopefully) reply.

Julie
February 15, 2009 8:59 AM

Hey Leo,

I read all of the comments as well - and my problem is I subscribe to MSN, and this STILL happens. I've lost my incoming emails twice now. I've tried using (1) Windows Live Hotmail with both IE and Safari, (2) MSN Explorer (the butterfly program), (3) Outlook Express, and, in desperation, (4) Incredimail. For no reason, my in box is completely empty. Thank goodness I still have my emails in my subfolders or I would be doubly irritated...the last time, those were all gone, too. Last time, the MSN help desk, after much head scratching, managed to get back most of my emails, but they were confused why I was set up the way I was (i.e., using a hotmail account to view MSN mail). I've only ever done that; I was told to do this by the people who sold me my computer. So if I'm being a complete moron about this, perhaps you can set me straight and I will apologize for wasting time...thanks.

glenn
April 9, 2009 9:10 PM

this is ridiculous the account states that I don't even have a windows mail account? wtf?!

bigmare
April 9, 2009 9:16 PM

I logged into my Hotmail account today, just like every other day for the past 8 years, and there is only a message that says, "You do not have an inbox ...yet...". After signing up for Windows Live Hotmail, and no other clues, I was unable to access any emailing screens, just my contact list. Could everything really be gone???

Andre
April 9, 2009 9:21 PM

Man, the same BS happened to me! What the heck happened? I suddenly don't have an inbox at all.

rebecca
April 9, 2009 9:25 PM

Same thing for me today (4/9/09). BUT, I was online earlier today around noon on my blackberry in hotmail and it was fine. I never closed out, and now my blackberry is still connected and shows all messages? Even those sent after my last view of the inbox? Maybe its a server thing, or an IE thing... seems as if they are still there, but I get the message that "I don't have an inbox yet" when I log in from the desktop computer...?? Wierd... And I'm pissed...

Jesse
April 9, 2009 9:27 PM

I guess I'm glad I'm not the only one who had this same issue with my hotmail tonight (Apr 9 2009), but that's little comfort. I have two accounts, one of which I've been using for over 6 years, and both seem to be completely wiped. To say this is absolute crap is the understatement of the year. I guess we all just cross our fingers at this point.

Kim
April 9, 2009 9:29 PM

I am getting the same message as well. It says I don't have an inbox..yet. I can sign in and my contact list still exists but if I were to set up my inbox as it suggests I have to get a new email address (@live). You would think that some sort of explanation would not be too much to expect.

AC
April 9, 2009 9:29 PM

For what it's worth... my Windows Live Hotmail does not even recognize that I have an inbox! Very strange since I've had this inbox for at least 10 years!

ms
April 9, 2009 9:30 PM

my hotmail accounts both say that my inbox does not exist. Please help!!!

ben
April 9, 2009 9:32 PM

My inbox is suddenly gone after using it for 10 yrs...what happpen...im pissed...

Lancer
April 9, 2009 9:32 PM

Okay I'm not the only one, this is my business account and hearing others have problems make me think its server side and M$N is having a problem. One thing is for sure is I was not hacked.

TrevorandKristena
April 9, 2009 9:34 PM

The same thing just happened to both of us. I checked my email about an hour ago, everything was fine, now neither of us have inboxes!!!!!!!! WTF???? I hope this is just a stupid server thing and that things will be fine in a few hours ... we both have years of emails missing!! :(

ben
April 9, 2009 9:35 PM

yeah well...its just the email that its gone...i can still use my messenger though....

Cindy
April 9, 2009 9:36 PM

I just had the same problem also. Everything was okay this morning, but now when I logged into Hotmail, I also got a message that I don't have an Inbox. I also just have my contact list.

TalkboxPeeWee
April 9, 2009 9:38 PM

What.the.hell?Same.thing.Years.of>Emails.Gone.WTF?

Kyle
April 9, 2009 9:38 PM

I just signed in and when I went to my email i've got the same messages as everyone else. I then talked to a family member and there email was fine and then after talking to them on messenger for about 15 mins they said it kicked them off the messenger and when they tried to go to the email or get back on messenger they had the same message as me saying i dont have and inbox yet..very weird

Clarence
April 9, 2009 9:39 PM

IM having the same problem...!!someone pls help me

Drew
April 9, 2009 9:40 PM

I am having the same problem as everyone else -- so let's hope it's a server or something...

karin
April 9, 2009 9:41 PM

SAME thing has happened to me... everything's gone but for a few contacts. Let's hope this is a temp situatioN!

Crystal
April 9, 2009 9:43 PM

Same thing with me, I just got an email yesterday about having my account for 10+ years and when I logged on a hour again says I have no inbox just contacts...

Dale C
April 9, 2009 9:43 PM

Yeah I was just on my email less than an hour ago and everything was there now everything is gone except my contacts????????? maybe there going to make everyone pay to have an inbox?? even when i followed through with it to see if it would return my inbox it just keeps signing me out.
also every link I have tried to get ahold of any hotmail support will not open (this web page cannot be displayed) WTF?????

Zach
April 9, 2009 9:43 PM

I've lost my inbox as well. Hopefully, though, the extent of this problem (i.e. the number of people it has affected) means that it's a repairable server issue. Hopefully.

Soph
April 9, 2009 9:44 PM

WTH my inbox is gone too !!!!!!!!!

Matt
April 9, 2009 9:44 PM

My hotmail tells me I don't have an inbox yet, despite the fact that I've had my account since 1998! Nice...

I checked online for solutions, but the microsoft hotmail help solution centers are so crowded that the pages don't even load... seems like it's a wide-scale thing. Bet you we'll hear about it in the news. :)

Rodrigo
April 9, 2009 9:45 PM

I have the same problem. I log in, and it tells me that I don't have an inbox "yet". I also only have my contact list only. I can sign in to MSN just fine. I sent myself an email from another account, and it didn't bounce, so I'm almost positive this is a temporary error. Well, I'm hopin'.

kristin
April 9, 2009 9:45 PM

I am having the same problem. It keeps telling me I don't have an INBOX! This is crazy.

andre
April 9, 2009 9:45 PM

It just happened to me as well, i dont have an inbox yet, but my contacts are all there!!?
anyones fixed itslef up?

Christopher
April 9, 2009 9:45 PM

I have also just lost both of my Hotmail inboxes with no clue as to why they are gone. Yes, would be great if MSN would post a message as to what has happend...???

David
April 9, 2009 9:46 PM

I've had mine for almost 10 years and now it too says I have no inbox! Hopefully its resolved quick!!!

Scott
April 9, 2009 9:46 PM

Im in the same boat as everybody else--- No Inbox-- I was logged in 2 hours ago and everything was fine. I guess the good news is that Im not the only one--- so hopefully its a server issue and will ne resolved soon.

Peter
April 9, 2009 9:49 PM

I'm having the same problem as Cindy. I log in and it tells me I dont have an inbox. I've been using this account since 1997 without a problem.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Peter

mn
April 9, 2009 9:52 PM

My inbox is missing too!
I cannot get to the hotmail page because it is not loading either.

monica
April 9, 2009 9:53 PM

hey! im having the same problem... i also got a message that i don't have an inbox!! pls tell me this will be fix!!

Knutp
April 9, 2009 9:56 PM

Same here ... both my @hotmails had no inbox .... and I know there are on different servers! Hotmail surely have done something wrong!

Both where okay yesterday 9th april 2009 and gone in the morning of 10th (european time). Well, not the first time my account is "gone" But I hope they fix it soon!

ITs my primare email :(

Andy
April 9, 2009 9:56 PM

Did you guys recently install internet explorer 8? Thats the only change I've made recently. Now eight yrs of email gone. thnks windows

Brad
April 9, 2009 9:57 PM

I know many people have already commented on the absence of their hotmail mailboxes today, but I just wanted to be a part of this statistic to "comfort" those who are experiencing the same loss. I really hope that the down-time from the server is minimal. (if that is the indeed the case....!..???)

Amy Hein
April 9, 2009 9:58 PM

OMG I am relieved that not going Crazy. I have just log into today and everything is gone and i've had my since 97. so many email/memories are all gone and important stuff that i should now printed off!!! Gosh i hope it is only temp thing. I didn't read anywhere that this was going to happen.

Jennifer Fleming
April 9, 2009 9:58 PM

My inbox is gone too, with years of important emails...WTF!!! This sucks! Hopefully since it all is happening to us right now at the same time it will be fixed by tomorrow. I pay for mine too, it is not free.

Kristin
April 9, 2009 9:59 PM

They have posted this on their Help Central....
The Windows Live service or feature that you are trying to access is temporarily unavailable. Our team knows about the problem and is diligently working to resolve it. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause. Please try again later.

Peter
April 9, 2009 10:01 PM

Widescale problem. They may have been hacked.

Mike
April 9, 2009 10:03 PM

Yeah so I go in earlier today to check my e-mail account... Worked great. I just went to go check my account like 20 minutes ago. and Poof. says " inbox not setup" i'm like WTF... i was in a panic as i am expecting to get very important e's about famiyl issues and work related stuff. I hope that this is just a glitch. Better be

Matt
April 9, 2009 10:05 PM

Mine too. Hopefully it's just "upgrading of servers" as they usually put it. Otherwise I will be breaking faces. Half a lifetime of e-mails on one of my accounts. :(

Nek
April 9, 2009 10:06 PM

Same problem for me. There is just no inbox left anymore!!

ani
April 9, 2009 10:06 PM

Ah I'm having the same problem..I thought I was the only one. I've recently started installing updates for Windows XP again. Today when I signed in to windows live messenger it would not open hotmail in firefox. Instead it has 0 messages and opened in Microsoft outlook????? So I decided to install the new version of windows live messenger (mistake I hate the look of it) and it still opens in outlook express when I click on the mail box. Now in firefox I can't log in to hotmail using the website and in internet explorer it says I have no inbox????

Shinn
April 9, 2009 10:07 PM

My 3 accounts are having the same problem :(

Steve
April 9, 2009 10:09 PM

I can't believe mine is gone too
I hope MSN fixes thing =(

Erin
April 9, 2009 10:09 PM

I am really thankful to have found this page. I logged in and it said my inbox was gone but everything else is still there. They need to fix this!!!!

Grae
April 9, 2009 10:09 PM

Heyas,

Yah I been on the net since about 10am (Aussie time) all emails wwere working fine, then suddenly about an hour ago I copped the same prob as you all have - You have no inbox as yet.

I can recall several instances over the years when i was unable to access hotmail, similar to today.

Those previous times it was always on either good friday or xmas day or new years day.

Heaps of ppl on the net and straining the servers to handle the load.

Even then there was no mention by msn/hotmail peeps as to what theprob was nor when it would be rectified.

One minute it was working then not and then several hours later it was all back up and normal again.

So now that you know what I shared i hope it gives you all a bit of a boost and keeps you thinking positive.

However. We use a free email service and as we all know the customer support is piss poor. basically we get what we pay for. ehehehehe

Geez, I know of some big companys whom are paid stacks of cash and their CS is extremely poor.

But, keep ya chins up everyone, am sure it will be back to normal in a few hours.

Oh, and have a Great Easter everyone!

Eugene
April 9, 2009 10:11 PM

Well, adding to the choir - yes, I've got this too... Just now, and I was checking my emails a couple of hours ago. I hope, Microsoft wasn't hacked. The thing is I always copy my messages to created folders, and very little keep in the inbox. However, everything is gone now, and the message is saying that "You don't have an Inbox... yet" WTF???

Bryan
April 9, 2009 10:12 PM

Same thing for me... My inbox not set up... just installed Internet Explorer 8 like other user Andy. They better have tech on this right now!

Joe
April 9, 2009 10:13 PM

Add me to the ever growing list of affected users. I too pay for extra services. I am pissed!!!

Cory G
April 9, 2009 10:13 PM

Same problem although I am POSITIVE that it is a temporary issue that will be resolved in the next 48 hours. Look at the dates of the recent comments, most of us are April 9th, 2009. I just tried emailing myself from my gmail account and it went through, which means that the account is still there (I hope). I am thankful for this page being here to know that I am not alone.

Tom
April 9, 2009 10:13 PM

Im going to go out on a limb and say that its a server problem and will be corrected soon, the reason I believe this is because everyone his having the same problem, at the same time.

brcasper
April 9, 2009 10:14 PM

[edited]......My inbox has disappeared too! Tho, i gotta say that I am pleased I'm not the only one this is happening to, I thought I was going crazy!

Tim
April 9, 2009 10:15 PM

same happened to me! i cannot believe this. My hotmail account which i had since 1998 is gone! WTF!

Erika
April 9, 2009 10:15 PM

Mine too. I had 4 different accounts and they are all gone. I work with people who have eating disorders and I was just about to compose an e-mail to a client and I got a message that read something like I didn't have an In box yet. These are years of e-mails that are gone. Why were we given no warning? Those e-mails can't be replaced. A couple of people are no longer alive. My Profile at my one e-mail address is still there. Thank God, I saved the URL to it. I don't know what to do.AOL only allows 1,000 e-mails max and you can save only 5,000 e-mails. I know that the rest of the e-mails on AOL are saved on their server, but getting them to send them to you is another issue all together. Again, I am talking about years of e-mails, i.e. year 2000. Now, I can't Sign into Windows Live Messenger this is the message I receive: "There's a temporary problem There's a temporary problem with the service. Please try again. If you continue to get this message, try again later."
4/9/2009 at 10:13 p.m., PT

DK
April 9, 2009 10:15 PM

Exact same thing here. It was working fine a couple hours ago.

Aman
April 9, 2009 10:17 PM

I logged into Hotmail today just to be shocked and terrified to see my INBOX vanish. All emails (years now) have been lost. Herculean Data Loss for me. Can we raise our voice together to Microsoft team somewhere on this ???

DK
April 9, 2009 10:18 PM

Everything's working again! I just logged in and it's all there. Hopefully it's the same for all y'all.

kristin
April 9, 2009 10:18 PM

Mine is back now.

Aaron
April 9, 2009 10:18 PM

Arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I have all of my contacts but my entire inbox and folders are gone. Simply reads: "you have no inbox...yet"

Brad
April 9, 2009 10:19 PM

I don't have an inbox?! What the christ is that? As soon as this gets fixed I'm switching to gmail. Screw these bastards

Steve Meosky
April 9, 2009 10:19 PM

Had the same prob as you guys and was worrying my head off. I JUST tried logging back on and everything was back. Hope everyones info is ok. THis is incentive to switch to gmail if you ask me! Good luck all

gregvolt
April 9, 2009 10:19 PM

ouch, I can't find anything on the web regarding this or see anything in help central about it. I know someone above mentioned a message in help central but I do not see it.

Bonnie
April 9, 2009 10:20 PM

I'm thinking it might have something to do with internet explorer because I am able to log onto internet through my wireless phone and my hotmail inbox is there. However, on my laptop with internet explorer, "you have no inbox.....yet."

Ausa
April 9, 2009 10:20 PM

same thing here, no inbox set up message.

I bet it's just a server problem.

Grae
April 9, 2009 10:23 PM

Heyas all,

Just try and get into your boxes now.

Mine is up and running and fine once again.

Am sure you will all be bk and all b fine.

AC
April 9, 2009 10:24 PM

I used Firefox instead of IE and was able to open my inbox. YAY!

Crystal
April 9, 2009 10:26 PM

Confirmed, I can't get to my inbox on my computer with upgraded internet explorer, but I can get to my inbox on the computer i haven't upgraded yet... fun fun

Alex
April 9, 2009 10:30 PM

Ditto to all the previous! (5.30 am GMT, 10th Apr 2009). Should we make it through this apparent 'temporary' server error, there's no excuse not to back up important emails. By the way, can anyone suggest a way to save your whole profile and inbox (dating back to before the year 2000) in one fell swoop?!

It's not IE and I have upgraded to IE 7. I've been told by a computer specialist not to upgrade to MSN Optimized 8 because it's not as "safe" as Microsoft claims. If you have a PC Microsoft always wants you to download their products. I am also still using XP and he told me that Vista sucks and to stay with XP. Anyway, I have all of my e-mail back from all four (4) accounts. However, I am going to get another AOL account. This way, it won't be free. If anyone knows of another ISP that is better than AOL and isn't free please let me know. Verizon (I've heard that Verizon FiOS is great), Comcast, Roadrunner, etc. are not available in my area. I hope my information helped you and that you are all have your e-mail accounts back. Thank you.

Leo
April 10, 2009 8:17 AM

Important

Windows Live Hotmail apparently suffered an outage of some sort. Inboxes (including mine) disappeared and a message that I didn't have one "yet" was displayed.

This is not your fault, and there is nothing you need do.

I got my inbox back by:

• Signing Out

• Waiting a while

• Signing back in

Nothing more was required, and my inbox was back.

Important Lesson: Backup and/or stop relying on free email accounts as the only place you keep important information.

- Leo09-Apr-2009

Diane
April 10, 2009 10:39 AM

Same thing happened to me. All my inbox was gone and said I had to create one. I went to the Help Center site as posted, clicked on "Sign in" under Creating account, and it took me to my Hotmail inbox and folders. WHEW!!! Today it's all back to normal. I don't like Windows (Mac user) and will now be officially moving to another mail provider. It's a shame, as I really like the filtering system on Hotmail.

Jan Mead
April 15, 2009 7:45 PM

This recently happened to me. I signed up for a hotmail account like I never had had one, and all of my hotmail and folders were back.

What is the best e-mail one should get to avoid these problems.

r.R,S, nIGAM
September 10, 2009 8:07 AM

I would like your organisation to immediately inform the concerned person so that he may take steps in time to avoid hardship. For the last more than one week I am facing the problem of non-availability of the e-mail and even inbox does not exist now.

r.R,S, nIGAM
September 10, 2009 8:13 AM

My contacts got on their mail that I am out of country to attend a seminar and have lost my papers and money; contacts were asked to send $ 250 returnable on my coming back home. This e-mail is absoultely wrong, I am at home for all the days and my contacts know that it is work of some cheating person. Even my e-mail account has been erased completely and I am denied access as also receiving and sending e-mails. I want all the e-mail on the last ten days be restored in an inbox which requires immedaite opening.

wilfred neblett
June 20, 2010 12:43 PM

my email are all gone and now i cant recived no mail at all

Wendy
July 15, 2010 10:51 AM

Is there no longer a hotmail.com? I am so confused. I sign into hotmail and it automatically sends me to hotmail live. It would not take my old password, so I had to change it. But, there is nothing in the account. How do you retrieve information that was in hotmail.com. This is crazy!!How can I get my messages from my old account or is this really something that has happened. Is there no longer a MSN hotmail.com? or is this a joke of somekind. Please answer - I really am having a hard time because it is hard to trust the things you read. I would just like to know if this is real or not.
Thank you

Microsoft has made this confusing, that's for sure.

Item #1: Hotmail has been renamed Windows Live Hotmail. Hotmail.com exists, but if you go to it you will be taken to a "live.com" domain and you can login to your account there. In the upper right you'll probably see "Windows Live" and underneath that "Hotmail".

Item #2: All MSN services have been renamed to Windows Live. So what used to be MSN Hotmail is now Windows Live Hotmail. What used to be MSN Instant Messenger is now Windows Live Messenger. And so on. "msn.com" remains a home page with the latest news and other information.

Item #3: If you've paid for a "msn.com" email address some or all of the previous many not apply.

Item #4: this is all a name change only and should NOT involve any loss of email or any change in your email address. Everything should work as before. If you've lost email, then something else is going on.

16-Jul-2010

Linda
August 4, 2010 2:37 PM

All of my mail is being moved straight into my deleted items box. I have sent the most important ones from here to a gmail account. I don't know how long this will be here for. This action coincides with the importing of my hotmail incoming and inbox to gmail. This also immediately caused me to receive mail from those on my contacts list with targetted comments taken from received mail. I thought that this takeover of my gmail might have infiltrated my hotmail too.

Vishwas Bharati
September 5, 2010 4:51 AM

For the last more than month I am facing the problem of non-availability of the e-mail and even inbox does not exist now. Even on Help center I have posted about the hardship but does not got any response.

rac
January 7, 2011 3:02 PM

I show 53 email in inbox, but they show and then vanish rapidly. Gmail never does this. What is wrong with Windows Live??

I have just solved a similar problem. It may be because of email clients such as Mail on the Mac. Once the emails have been downloaded onto the email client there is a setting that will delete those emails from the server (your hotmail inbox). You can disable this setting so they will stay on the server.

Michele Glenn
July 5, 2011 9:31 PM

I can sign in but see nothing in my inbox and nothing in any of my folders. I am out of Costa Rica. A friend in Costa Rica has the same problem. However, my husband who is visiting in the States can sign in and view everything in my hotmail account, so it has not actually disappeared; apparently it's a servicing problem from this area of the world perhaps? It's been over 24 hours now and the situation is getting annoying.

sonia
July 15, 2011 4:02 PM

when I started windows it says on my user name i have 8 e mails but when i loged on i had only 1 i think may be conflicting programs i dont know what to do

debbie stirsman
September 19, 2011 10:33 PM

I got a new phone. And when i had it activated i have never got anymore emails. I had a droid and went to the droid bionic.. any suggestions sincerely debbie..p.s. i also cant get my gmail

PAMELA
October 8, 2011 6:17 AM

Oh sorry, Leo, called you Allan by mistake
My emails in INBOX have all disappeared today when I logged into HOTMAIL.
Can your retrieve for me. or is there a problem with HOTMAIL.
Thank you
Pamela
{email removed}

My hotmail account is deleting all my inbox emails. If I get an email on my iphone 4s and open it, it will delete it on my pc. This just happened.

Steve
July 5, 2012 11:03 AM

It can also be that you haven't logged in for over 30 days. That was the original reason I left hotmail years ago. I have to keep it for Xbox360 membership so I check it about every year or so. Today it was empty with an email from Hotmail saying "welcome to Hotmail". Good thing I don't keep ANYTHING important there.

gnet
August 3, 2012 5:28 AM

hi there, i was horrified to find out that all my messages are gone and can't even log in at one point. it says that my email account have been closed. then at one point i managed to log in and closed my account as i felt like someone hacked my email account. after awhile it's still active for some reason which i never used it for almost 3 years. could you please enlighten me what's going on?

many thanks,

gnet

Jane
January 3, 2013 10:11 AM

My Hotmail inbox is empty. I am on the new version 8, and can not get all my emails. I still have them on my IPad. Above information does not help...please help me.
Thank you, Jane

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